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Mortgage lending for house purchases soars 12.5% in just one year

21/01/2016

Mortgage lending has risen 12.5 per cent in the past year, despite a small dip at the end of 2015.

Chartered surveying company e.surv says overall house purchase approvals, on a seasonally adjusted basis, decreased to 68,218 in December – falling 3.1 from November.

However, the second half of the year has seen a strong monthly average of 69,572 approvals, compared to 64,047 across the first six months of 2015.

Over the course of the whole 12 month period this means house purchase lending has risen 12.5 per cent.

There was also a significant annual rise of 32 per cent in so-called small-deposit lending, defined as loans to buyers with deposits worth 15 per cent or less of their properties’ total value, although this again dipped slightly towards the end of 2015.

“In order to properly address supply shortages and champion first-time buyers, new entry-level homes need to be built, and as quickly as possible” says an e-surv spokesman.

The findings from e.surv may cause alarm amongst some analysts concerned about a possible overheating of the housing market, fuelled by a shortage of supply.

Yesterday the Office for National Statistics reported that house prices across the UK accelerated in the year to November, rising 7.7 per cent on average, but with a rise of 10.2 per cent in the East of England and 9.8 per cent in London and the South East.